Users at two or more computers (called “workstations”) can communicate information between each other using a communication network. One such network includes one or more additional computers (called “servers”) that have data storage and routing facilities for transferring information between servers to a workstation. The workstations include network interfaces that allow them to transmit and receive information from the servers. Another commonly used network is a peer-to-peer network that includes a communication link between two or more workstations to communicate information directly between the workstations (without the need for a server).
Workstations connected to a network can include software for allowing users to exchange messages with one another in real-time. This type of exchange is commonly referred to as instant messaging and/or chat session. Instant messaging typically involves two users, whereas chat sessions typically involve more than two users. In both kinds of sessions, messages are entered and received via a user interface on the workstations.
For additional information on instant messaging, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,609 granted to Aravamudan, et al. on Oct. 9, 2001 and entitled “Assignable Associate Priorities For User-Definable Instant Messaging Buddy Groups” that is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Examples of four commonly used software at a workstation, for instant messaging are: ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Each of these software programs has, in the past, used proprietary interfaces and protocols to transfer instant messages among users, although newer software programs, such as Trillian 0.71 and Odigo 3.1 provide an interface to (and communicate with) the just-described four instant messengers.
According to a review article on the Internet at the website www.cnet.com, it is possible to “Switch Trillian 0.71's look and feel by downloading skins. We downloaded a few colorful ones from Cerulean's site and DeviantArt and settled on a skin that looks a lot less artistic but is much more functional.” Trillian is just one example of an instant messenger whose look and feel can be changed by use of different skins (also called “themes”). Other examples of instant messengers that support use of skins include MyCQ, ICQ with ICQPlus, Odigo and Yahoo Messenger.
Software that supports skins (also called “skinnable software”) is not limited to instant messengers. Other types of skinnable software include video games (such as Quake), media players (such as WinAmp and Windows Media Player), browsers (such as iNet-Tabs and BrowserBob, WebBlinds and Themebar), calculator (such as Beautiful Calculator from RaysLab), Microsoft Windows operating system desktop (such as eFX, Aston, Chroma, Cloud9ine, CustomEyes, Litestep, DarkStep, WindowBlinds), e-mail notificators (such as EzPop and Incredimail), file sharing utilities (such as eDonkey 2000), wcbcam utility (such as Argus 0.6b), news tickers (such as AMINews and HoverNews), message boards (such as Toast Forums 1.5), sticky notes reminder/scheduler (such as Aversoft Sticker), file transfer programs (such as 3D ftp), and Visual Basic applications (by use of Vbskinner available at sourcccode.8m.com/VBskinner/index.html).
To change a skin in certain prior art skinnable software, the user manually performs a number of acts such as the following: (1) download a file from a website of skins (e.g. Cerulean Studios' website) onto the desktop (2) unzip the file into a skins folder in the application folder (e.g. c:\program files\Trillian\skins\) while ensuring that the skin is placed only one directory deep (e.g.\skins\TrillianXP\trillian.xml) (3) load up the application (e.g. Trillian) and access preferences and (4) choose the ‘Skins’ option from and launch the skin chooser. If these four steps are performed correctly, the user is able to see the new skin and select it. At this stage, if the newly-downloaded skin is not available as one of the choices, the user must double check the previous steps while keeping in mind that only certain versions of skins will work on certain versions of the software. Once a newly-downloaded skin is selected in the application, the user must restart the application to actually experience the new look.
For more information on skinning, see the article entitled “The World of ‘Skinning’ an introductory primer” which is available on the Internet at www.stardock.net/media/skinprimer.html and this article is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. See also another article entitled “Windows Customization 2002 A Primer” by Bradley Wardell, published April 2002, on the Internet at www.stardock.com/stardock/articles/skinprimer/skinprimer2002.html